Heilman dealt to Cubs for Olson, Cedeno

Aaron Heilman spent the last weekend in Seattle as part of the new-look Mariners, picked up in a trade from the Mets.

As of Wednesday morning, he’s a Mariner no more. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs for infielder Ronny Cedeno and left-handed pitcher Garrett Olson. It’s not a bad deal for him, seeing that he will be close to home (he went to Notre Dame and grew up a Cubs fan).

What this does for the Mariners is replace the right-handed Heilman in the rotation mix with the lefty Olson, who was reasonably effective as a rookie with the Orioles last season. The Cubs picked him up in a trade and then jumped at a chance to get Heilman instead.

General manager Jack Zduriencik said he fully expects Olson to compete for a job in the rotation, a rotation that is already crowded. In the mix now are right-handers Felix Hernandez, Brandon Morrow and Carlos Silva and lefties Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn, Ryan Rowland-Smith and now Olson.

As for Cedeno, he’s going to get a chance to push both shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and second baseman Jose Lopez for their jobs. And he could wind up being part of a platoon with first baseman Russell Branyan, playing second base while moving Lopez to first base against left-handed pitchers.

To make room on the 40-man roster, right-handed reliever Randy Messenger was released. Once he clears waivers, there’s a chance the Mariners could invite Messenger to spring training as non-roster player.

”This is a trade that just fit,” Zduriencik said. ”Our number-one goal is to continue to accumulate talent in our organization while doing everything we can to compete in 2009.

”Today’s trade allows us to acquire a young, left-handed starting pitcher with Major League experience that we will still control for five seasons. At the same time, by adding Cedeno we have a player who is very versatile and gives us protection and depth, and can compete for a job at second base and shortstop immediately. Finally, I want to thank Aaron for his professionalism. We were excited to acquire him, and sorry to trade him, but I felt this was a deal that we couldn’t pass up.”

Olson, 25, was 9-10 with a 6.65 ERA in 26 starts and ranked fourth among American League rookies in starts (26), fifth in wins (9) & innings pitched (132.2) and was sixth in strikeouts (83) last season. He was 5-1 with a 3.86 earned run average (44.1 IP, 19 ER) in his first eight big league starts with Baltimore after being recalled on April 29, 2008.

Cedeno, who turns 26 on Feb. 2, batted .269 (58-for-216) with 12 doubles, 2 home runs and 28 RBI in 99 games for the Cubs in 2008. He saw action at five different positions in the field, including 43 appearances (31 starts) at second base, 27 appearances (20 starts) at shortstop, 7 games at third base and 1 game apiece in left field and center field.

Heilman, 30, went 3-8 with a 5.21 ERA (44 ER, 76.0 IP) in 78 relief appearances with the New York Mets last season. He was acquired by Seattle on Dec. 10, 2008 in a three-team, 12-player trade.